In Love
by Surreptitious Chi X
Summary: Gai finds out the difference between love and being IN love from the most reliable source in the world: a teenage girl. Now that he knows how to correctly interpret his feelings, he doesn't hesitate. Gai x Kakashi.
1. Prologue: The Revelation

**Prologue**

* * *

When Tsunade sent her on a mission with Team Gai, Sakura thought she'd have to weather through hell for the whole week. There couldn't be a team more different than hers. Granted, her team was fractured, all but officially disbanded, but she still thought of them as _her_ team. Kakashi, Naruto…Sasuke…they all had familiar frustrating habits. They were like a family. Being thrust into Team Gai felt unfairly like having to vacation with someone else's family, with a whole host of _unfamiliar_ frustrating habits.

She'd been wrong, as she often was. As usual, her miscalculation was her expectation that people would shut her out. Instead of behaving as though she were a guest, Gai, Lee, Neji, and Tenten let her into their family as if she had always belonged there. By the time that they were heading back from their mission, Sakura felt like she'd gained four new family members. An uncle and cousins, maybe.

They were stopped at a hotel a couple days' journey from Konoha, in north Fire. Because of her gender, she'd been rooming with Tenten the whole journey, and the boys in their own room, with Gai in a third.

Lying on her stiff hotel bed across from Tenten, who was already asleep, Sakura realized that looking at Tenten's slack face was just making her feel more awake than she was already. She slipped out of bed and padded across the room. Carefully, she opened the door and locked it behind her without making a noise that could disrupt the weapon master's light sleep.

Sakura headed down the hall.

Contrary to popular belief, aside from the manic training regime, Gai seemed like a normal, trustworthy human being. And she really needed to talk to an adult right now. Someone who could have advice to give.

By the time she reached the door to Gai's room, she realized it was one in the morning. _Gai should be asleep. What am I waking him up for?_

Sakura hesitated. But Gai was so much more open than Kakashi. He seemed to really bond with his students, to talk to them and share life advice on a day to day basis. Lee, Tenten, and Neji were all so much happier around Gai than her team was around Kakashi. She knew she shouldn't judge, shouldn't compare, when she'd vowed her loyalty to Kakashi. And she knew that her team had bonds with each other that were surely just as strong as Gai's team.

But it wasn't the same.

And Sakura thought her heart would burst if she couldn't talk to somebody. She couldn't talk to Kakashi or Naruto about this anyway. She'd just hurt them. Once they got back to Konoha, she'd probably never get the chance to talk to Gai.

She knocked timidly on the door. "Gai-sensei…"

She almost shrieked and fell over then he immediately opened the door, fully dressed in his usual green spandex, no less. The only difference was a lack of flak jacket. "What is it, sweet Blossom?" Gai gave her a bright smile.

Over the course of the mission, Gai had given her a nickname and declared her an honorary Adorable Student. Given that Sakura's father had never been particularly supportive, this kind of treatment was a bit of a shock. For all its flaws, Kakashi's laid back air of disinterest – yes, she knew it was a front, didn't everybody? – was much more familiar to her.

"I can't sleep," Sakura found herself saying in a small voice. _Crap. I sound like a little kid. Why couldn't I come up with something better than that?_

Gai rubbed his chin. "Then you better come in," he said seriously, ushering her in and then closing the door. "Loss of sleep is a serious matter. Is this a frequent occurrence for you, Sakura-chan?"

Now Sakura felt bad. She looked away. "Um…maybe?" Tsunade never asked such questions, even when Sakura had bags under her eyes. But then, Tsunade most likely knew why Sakura was losing sleep and didn't have any advice. Tsunade was a great healer, not a great relationship counselor.

Gai laid a warm hand on her shoulder and led her to sit down on the edge of the bed next to him. "Let's talk about it."

Since that was what she wanted, Sakura didn't argue. "How come you're up so late, Gai-sensei?"

"Me?" Gai looked surprised for a moment. Then he laughed. "I am too full of youthful energy."

Sakura should have known it would be something like that. She smiled ruefully. "I see. I have the opposite problem. I think I'm full of worried energy."

Gai squeezed her shoulder. "What are you worried about?" he asked gently.

Sakura fumbled for words. She looked down at her hands. She supposed she better start at the beginning, if there was one. She searched for a good opening. "Do you ever have someone on your mind? Like, constantly?"

Gai's smile turned into a dazzling grin. "Why, yes! I can say that I do, Sakura-chan."

Sakura was relieved. _Thank god. I can't be the only person going through this, of course it makes sense, but I've felt so alone. _"It doesn't matter if they notice you or not, does it?"

"Indeed, one's youthful feelings blaze on without any fuel," Gai agreed. "It is like a constant flame in my heart, resisting a fire extinguisher, even when they can be so cruel."

Sakura hugged him. She couldn't help it. "Yes. Exactly." She snuggled up to him. "Why does no one understand?"

Gai wrapped a strong arm around her in return, happily snuggling her like he would any of his other students. "I do not know – but I do know I find it most frustrating that others pretend not to understand my predicament."

"Exactly!" Sakura's chakra flared. She was gratified that Gai did not immediately pull away at the first sign of anger. "What kind of people are these, anyway? Friends? Family? Teammates? I share loyalty with these people! I share my life! The least they can do is understand." She scowled.

"I often feel this way," Gai admitted, his smile fading under the gravity of the conversation. "I tell myself my precious people are just being misguided. They understand, really, but their own failings cause them to not want to admit it."

"You think they really do understand?" Sakura pondered that.

Gai nodded. "Indeed I do. More than that, I think they share a secret sympathy their hearts will not allow them to express."

"Oh…" Sakura tried to fathom that, too. Sympathy behind Kaka-sensei's bland looks and Naruto's attempts to ask her out. "You mean…when someone has nothing to say because they don't know the answers, maybe they act like they didn't hear you, but they really did, and they're hurting inside."

"Yes," Gai said. "I think so." He squeezed her reassuringly.

"And maybe when someone tries to distract you, it's because they feel it's no good for you to be lovesick this way, so they're trying to ease your pain by offering an alternative: their love," Sakura said, feeling she was getting the hang of this logic.

Gai jerked, surprised, and looked at her in confusion. "Sakura-chan?"

"What is it, Gai-sensei?" Sakura looked at her new confidant with equal confusion.

"What did you say? Lovesick?" Gai looked astonished.

"Yes…" Sakura wondered what had happened in the conversation.

Gai's eyes widened, and he looked away, deep in thought. After a moment, he refocused on her. "So you're saying that when you think about a person and you can't get them out of your mind, you are in love? You are experiencing lovesickness?"

Sakura resisted the urge to laugh. "Gai-sensei…Yes. Everyone knows that. When you're driven crazy by the need for someone, that's called lovesickness." She realized suddenly that somehow, Gai had a gap in his knowledge. She took it upon herself to fill it in. "When you love someone, but you don't think they love you, it brings on lovesickness."

Gai's expression cleared. "Oh…Well, I know he loves me." He smiled. "So that's not the problem!"

Sakura almost fell over. _What – What did he say? Did Gai-sensei say 'he'? _She decided to tread carefully. Not that she thought being gay was wrong or anything. She'd never judge someone else like that. She'd hate to be judged for being in love.

Okay, she was being judged, and she did hate it.

"If you know he loves you…why do you think about him all the time?" she asked neutrally.

"Because I think that –" Gai stopped and shrugged, looking uncertain. His brow furrowed slightly. "…he doesn't notice me." His head bowed a little. "As much as he should…" He added quickly, "But I can never find fault with him. His behavior is not in the wrong, it's simply that…" Gai trailed off and fell silent.

Sakura thought she saw the part Gai was tangled up in. "You know he loves you…as a friend." She smiled, feeling smart.

Gai brightened. "Oh, we're more than friends, Sakura-chan! We are Eternal Rivals, always destined to equal each other in strength, good looks, and manliness! Including a desire for justice!"

If Sakura had been eating or drinking, she would have done a spit-take. _You what? You're in love with Kaka-sensei?_ That effectively took a hammer to her mind. She felt brain-broken. Reeling, she attempted to solider through. For Gai and Kakashi's sakes. _Oh god…Kaka-sensei…you better love me for this. You have no idea._

"So…you notice his good looks…" Sakura ventured.

"It would be impossible not to!" Gai grinned, his eyes gleaming with a very familiar, very obvious emotion: adoration. "He is one of the handsomest men on earth."

Sakura was tempted to laugh at that description of Kakashi, but she reminded herself that she could be seen claiming the same of Sasuke, and swallowed the knee-jerk ridicule. _Oh, yeah. That's lovesickness alright._ "And you wish that he would notice you more…"

"I wish that he would," Gai agreed fervently.

"And you think about him night and day," Sakura said.

"Always," Gai said. "I use any excuse just to get back into his presence."

"Then you're in love," Sakura said simply.

Gai took this news with a blank, wide-eyed look.

Sakura wondered who exactly had been derelict in their duty teaching Gai. "Do you enjoy being in his presence once you're there?"

"I live to be around my handsome rival," Gai declared. "Every moment is pure bliss."

"And does he treat you well?" Sakura asked.

"As I said, I cannot find fault with any of his behavior," Gai said.

"That's not the same." Sakura smiled wryly. "I should know. I excused a lot of crappy behavior from my object of affection."

"Oh." Gai rubbed his chin. "Well, he acts very cool when everyone else is around, but as soon as we're alone, he can be very warm. He's like a cat, really. He likes to be one-on-one with people before getting closer."

Sakura considered that. The one time she had felt Kakashi was really warm to her was, in fact, the one time she had been alone with him. She'd been crying about Sasuke, and that time, Kakashi had actually comforted her. Of course, the moment they'd been around the rest of the team, Kakashi acted like nothing had happened, and this confused her. But she thought now she understood, based on Gai's perspective.

"So you have nothing to be worried about," Sakura said finally. "It's okay to be lovesick about that kind of person."

"But he doesn't notice me," Gai wailed.

Sakura smiled at him. "Have you ever tried talking about your feelings?"

"Yes! Many times! How my heart beats passionately for our eternal rivalry, how we always watch each other's backs in battle, how many times we have come to rely on each other in difficult situations –" Gai seemed as though he could go on.

Sakura cleared her throat. "Ah…perhaps it will help now that you know you're in love. Adding the word 'in' to the front has a magical way of clearing things up. I said that to my loved one. Sasuke brushed me off…but that was because he was already cold to me, and a jerk. He didn't give me any signs at all that my affections were welcome. I rushed in there anyway because I was too hopelessly in love. It sounds like you're in a different situation." She still hurt to say Sasuke's name. But there was no point in not doing so. It was hardly a secret, and his name couldn't hurt her forever. She wouldn't let it.

She gave Gai a wavering smile. "So I think you should tell Kaka-sensei you're in love with him."

Gai looked at her uncertainly. "What do I say? Just, 'I'm in love with you'?"

Sakura nodded.

"How will that be any different?" Gai asked. "Nothing else I tried seemed to work."

Sakura squeezed his arm. "Trust me."

Gai considered that. Then he nodded. "Very well, my lovely Blossom. I shall try to speak your suggested words to him, and see what I get in reply."

"I think you should," Sakura said quietly. She hoped that Gai's declaration went over better than her own. She only had Gai's interpretation of her sensei to go by. To her…Kakashi was just another person she didn't understand.

After that, Gai turned the conversation back to her. She unburdened a lot of feelings she hadn't known she had, and after a hug that made her feel as though she could actually stand a chance of having a normal life after all, she went back to bed and slept.

Finally.


	2. Chapter 1: The Confession

**Chapter One**

* * *

Gai sought Kakashi out as soon as his team returned, his heart swelling with emotions that he could now proudly recognize as In Love.

He'd never thought that he could be in love. All his life, emotions that others seemed to have, reactions to things that happened to them, he didn't. He'd been told more than once he was as dumb as a rock. He'd also been exposed to more perverts than anyone else on the planet. Or so it felt like when his sensei in the Academy, his team leader, and all the friends he'd ever had were all girl-chasing maniacs. No one who knew anything about Gai was surprised that he could handle Kakashi's penchant for reading porn in public. Compared to his other friends, Kakashi was laidback and well-adjusted about it.

The point was, he'd had pornography shoved in his face, as well as being thrust into the middle of his friends' questionable antics to 'try to get some', and he hadn't had a reaction. Not a single skipped heartbeat, moment of distraction caused by a woman's body, or tingle. Not a single flutter in his chest. No tightening of the stomach. And definitely no 'moth to a flame' effect.

He'd thought he was effectively dead. Just another example of how he walked around in virtue, completely unable to be tempted by human desires. That was how his friends typecast him, and he'd seen no reason to argue. He was always their designated voice of reason in the end, the selfless friend steering them towards what they wanted, and then back out of it when they inevitably ended up sexually frustrated and heartbroken.

It could never have occurred to any of them that he was gay. Nor could Gai blame them. The stereotype of the gay man in porn and manga was completely distorted. Not to mention disgusting, especially for a group of staunchly heterosexual men obsessed with chasing skirt.

Gai walked through the village, searching out Kakashi's familiar chakra, his gaze sliding right over the streets without focusing on foot traffic or the buildings. The only thing he wanted to see was a thin, silver-haired man with his nose buried in an orange book.

Now that Sakura had explained to him what the actual signs of love were, he found his life much less confusing. He'd always been happier around men, always more willing to share his innermost thoughts and feelings, always more interested in bonding with his friends than anything else. And one by one, his friends had dropped off the radar after they got involved in women, ensnaring themselves in some woman's life for good. Also, their tendency to use Gai as a dating service hadn't helped. Loyalty during battle somehow hadn't been enough. Now Gai knew why. He'd been looking for one of them to love him.

His thoughts turned to his old crowd of friends. He'd certainly had a lot of them – he'd never had any trouble making friends, only connecting with them the way he wanted to. But for a while, his life had revolved around a core group: Kuriga, the first friend he'd made at the Academy, Yoshida, a man he'd initially been in conflict with when he'd joined ANBU, and Chien, an ANBU captain he'd run joint missions with several times.

Kuriga, a short man who shaved his head, was outgoing and cheerful like Gai. At first, Gai felt a great deal with kinship with Kuriga. But the man's pursuit of tall, leggy, irritable women far smarter than him had gradually worn Gai down. Kuriga was married now, to a blonde who saw something Kuriga besides an annoying practical joker and pervert. Gai thought she probably saw what he had seen: the sensitive interior and loyalty Kuriga possessed.

The ache in his chest when he thought of Kuriga made sense now. Watching Kuriga get married was actually quite painful, perhaps more so because he had been up close, filling the role of best man.

Yoshida, the tall, dark, romantic type. Emotionally manipulative and charming, insecure and frightened by the power women had to scramble his brain. As far as Gai knew, Yoshida was still in ANBU, still on duty at a far flung outpost, and still pining over the one woman he couldn't have: their mutual friend Bara, a kunoichi in the Codebreaking Division. Yoshida had been a fiery sparring partner, something Gai valued. Yoshida had always been able to push Gai to a new level. But being constantly ignored for Bara and having their sparring matches brushed off at least once a week had filled Gai with a bewildering sense of emptiness.

Now Gai could identify that sense of emptiness as feeling unloved and unimportant.

Then there was Chien, whom Gai had never known as well as the others. Chien had put up a cold exterior in ANBU, so much so that Gai had wondered if the man had a conscience. It had been eye-opening to see Chien cry over his partner when Tsugi had been seriously injured on a mission. Gai had connected to Chien on that level: devotion to a special friend, like Gai's devotion to Kakashi's safety. But Chien had been single-mindedly focused on Tsugi and on their missions. In spite of the emotional connection, there was no room for Gai in Chien's life.

Yoshida and Kuriga had asked him more than once why he didn't put out the effort to be pen pals with Chien, since they'd gotten along so well. His response to lie and say he would just to get out of the conversation didn't make him feel so guilty now.

A flicker of Kakashi's chakra interrupted Gai's thoughts. Kakashi was outside the village to the southwest. He changed direction and headed for his friend. Judging by the distance, Kakashi was at one of the training spots that peppered the border of their village.

Gai jogged, reasoning that one could never have too much exercise. It could have nothing to do with desperately wanting to get this over with, or the feeling that he was rushing into the climax of an epic story.

He automatically sorted out how Kakashi fit into this as he ran.

When they hung out privately, Kakashi had a cutting, insightful sense of humor that could always make him laugh. Although Kakashi suffered from depression, the spells came and went, and whenever Gai was feeling down, Kakashi could always point out some compelling reason to look on the bright side.

And unlike Kuriga, Kakashi felt utterly uncompelled to chase after women. He seemed satisfied to read his porn and casually ignore the three-dimensional examples of the female sex that walked past him.

Kakashi could always push Gai to actually use all of the skills that he worked so hard on mastering whenever they sparred seriously. When they took off the kid gloves and dismissed silly challenges in favor of real training, no one was better at making Gai feel the burn. Kakashi was clever, devious, and charmingly misleading. Not to mention there was that sharingan whenever Kakashi felt like being underhanded. Gai loved not knowing what to expect. Now that was a real sparring partner.

And unlike Yoshida, Kakashi never brushed off an arranged training session. Gai had learned to wait in order to accommodate Kakashi's foibles, but then, the wait was rewarded. Kakashi never failed to show up. Plus, he was a man of integrity. He always trained for as long as he promised he would, regardless of when he showed up. One time, Kakashi had trained with him until one in the morning because Kakashi had been almost three hours late.

Nothing could compete with the times that they sat together quietly, not training and not joking, letting the rustle of leaves and the rush of wind lull them into speaking their feelings. Gai found no condemnation in Kakashi. Only thoughtfulness. And Kakashi's willingness to level and bare his soul matched Gai's own. Those afternoons, Gai felt a kind of peace steal over him, and he could finally believe that they shared a special world.

Kakashi was the best parts of Kuriga, Yoshida, and Chien combined. No wonder Gai loved him. Had fallen _in_ love with him.

And Gai had to believe that Kakashi felt the same way. He was the only person Kakashi shared those times with. He never noticed anyone else hanging around Kakashi the same way, and Kakashi mentioned no one. The word around the village was certainly that Gai was the only person who 'could stand' the Copy Ninja. Gai often fantasized asking someone what exactly that could mean, but he knew already, and confronting would just start a fight.

But as Gai reached the outskirts of the village and looked around the fields of waving grass for his friend, Gai wondered how he was supposed to start this conversation. Just walking up to Kakashi and saying, 'I'm in love with you' would shock Kakashi. Kakashi did not do well with shocks.

Gai followed Kakashi's chakra signature, trekking through the fields until he hit the edge of the forest. The chakra beckoned, so he ventured underneath the sheltering limbs of the ancient trees. After tracking Kakashi to the hot spot of chakra, Gai looked around, saw nothing but dignified, silent tree trunks, and then looked up.

Kakashi was a third of the way up the tree, sitting on a thick branch with his back supported by the tree trunk. Reading. Idly flipping through the pages of his book, his expression slack and faraway as always.

Gai smiled. He knew that Kakashi sensed him, even if Kakashi remained absorbed in the story. He wasn't a threat to Kakashi, so Kakashi had no reason to react to his presence.

"Yo," he called.

Kakashi did not look up, but that was his way. "Yo," he called back, his voice a lazy, distracted drawl that warmed Gai from the inside out.

Gai wondered if Kakashi sounded anything like this when waking up in the morning. He wished he could be there to see Kakashi's disheveled, groggy re-entry into the world of waking people. "Am I coming up there, or are you coming down here?"

"Nn," Kakashi said. Then he closed his book, slipped it in a pocket of his flak jacket, and slid off the edge of the tree branch, jumping down. He landed in a crouch and straightened. "What's the problem this time?" His uncovered eye examined Gai critically. "You're disturbed. I can feel it." He pointed at Gai in a straightforward accusation. "Your chakra has that little flutter to it, like a flag that's started to tear free. I know you."

Gai self-consciously stood there, smiling. If Kakashi didn't confront him about those sorts of things, Gai would never tell. As a result, Kakashi had developed a bluntness that was shocking to other people overhearing their conversations.

When Kakashi didn't move, didn't so much as blink, Gai rubbed the back of his neck. "Ah…"

"Spill it," Kakashi said. "Now."

Gai shifted his weight from one foot to the other, finding that no words would come when Kakashi stared at him so intently. Kakashi's concern actually worked against him in this case. He turned away, embarrassed, feeling his face getting warm. "I…" He squared his shoulders. _No. I will not back down. I must reveal my feelings to my dearest friend._ "Have something I need to tell you."

Kakashi grabbed his shoulder and turned him back around. "What is it?" They were close, standing so close their faces were inches apart. Gai saw the alarm he'd inspired in Kakashi and felt a pang in his chest.

"It's nothing bad," he protested.

"I don't believe you," Kakashi said flatly. "You always say it isn't bad. You had a leg broken in five places and you said it wasn't bad."

Gai laughed ruefully. "How you know me."

Kakashi gripped both shoulders and stared Gai down. "So what is it?"

"But it's not bad this time," Gai corrected hastily, realizing his response had given Kakashi the wrong impression. "I promise. I swear it by all that's holy. It's a good thing. A very good thing. A thing that's long overdue. Been on my mind for quite some time. Someone just had to make me realize it."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Go on."

Gai grinned sheepishly. After the best of intentions, Kakashi's responses had herded him into the corner: revealing his feelings without cushioning Kakashi at all from the shock of them. But at this point, with Kakashi already agitated, dragging out the conversation would just cause Kakashi to assume the worst. "I'm in love with you."

Kakashi's jaw dropped. His visible eye widened, he looked about to lose his balance, and the blush coming over his face combined to make him look just silly. He dropped his hands from Gai's shoulder and turned away, running a hand over his masked mouth and chin and placing one steadying hand on the tree trunk. "Are – Are you sure?"

Gai resisted the urge to laugh. He beamed, feeling the grin over his whole face. "Yeah." He felt proud of himself for inspiring this reaction in Kakashi. After all his fears about shocking the man who was his best friend, Kakashi's blush was gratifying.

Kakashi turned back towards him uncertainly, scanning his face and demeanor. He hesitated, then lifted his forehead protector off of his sharingan eye, scanning Gai from the inside out. He sputtered something Gai didn't catch, covered his sharingan, and blushed more fiercely. "You've come to your senses," he muttered, and Gai recognized it as what Kakashi had sputtered.

Gai chuckled. Now he definitely felt proud of himself. "Indeed I have, Eternal Rival. I am in love with you. You are the one I desire."

Kakashi visibly went weak at the knees, his last vestiges of doubt melting. He looked at Gai with a mute, wide-eyed expression akin to amazement. He was utterly speechless, and after a few moments of mutual staring, Gai realized he would have to do something.

Gai pulled Kakashi into his arms, gently enfolding Kakashi in an embrace.

Kakashi let out a breath that sounded suspiciously like a sigh of contentment and leaned against him.

Gai felt very warm. After long, sweet, satisfying moments of holding Kakashi, his love pressing against him, he realized he also felt smugly victorious. He could finally come back to his friends and have something to show for himself.

_Someone loves me now. Ha! In spite of you! In spite of your nay saying, I, Gai the Mighty, have a loved one who is filled with desire at the sight of me. And it is not one of your high-strung, mood-swingy women you're so fond of. It is Kakashi, the greatest of them all! The famous, world-renowned genius son of the White Fang, the premier Copy Ninja, the last holder of the sharingan the Leaf possesses among their starry ranks, the coolest sensei ever to grace teacherdom! _

A bad, weak part of him really wanted to rub it in their faces.

Kakashi rested his head on Gai's shoulder and uttered a little sigh.

Gai melted, drawn back to the moment. His heart beat faster and harder as he gazed at the profile of Kakashi's face. "I love you," he murmured. He reached up and tenderly stroked Kakashi's masked cheek. "I always will. You are my Eternal Rival. So you shall be my Eternal Lover."

"Gai…say you'll never leave me." Kakashi's voice was a vulnerable whisper.

Gai hugged Kakashi closely. "I'll never leave you."

Kakashi went limp against him. "I love you."

Gai kissed the side of Kakashi's head, the only spot accessible from this position. "I love you, too." This was the bliss Gai had been looking for, the acknowledgement he'd felt was missing. He'd been blindly searching for a way to this moment: the exchanging of 'I love you'. He mentally thanked Sakura and whatever god had aligned them on that day to have the conversation that they did. Without that life-changing conversation, he never would have known what he was missing from his relationship with Kakashi.

Kakashi raised his head and looked at Gai coyly, a smile in his eye.

Gai was taken aback. He'd never seen that expression on Kakashi's face before.

"Gai…" Kakashi reached up and hooked a finger under his mask. "Would you like to see my face?"

Gai's heart rate doubled. "Uh…" Warmth suffused his face. Part of him wanted to say: But, _Kashi, I've seen your face before._ That wasn't the point. Those had been sneaked peaks that he wasn't strictly supposed to have, despite the fact that Kakashi had never openly told him not to look. This was an invitation. It was entirely different.

He swallowed, his mouth dry. "Okay."

Kakashi chuckled, his eye twinkling as though that was the funniest thing he'd ever heard, and pulled his mask down, grinning at Gai. His grin was boyish.

Gai took it all in at once – the smooth skin, the delicate jaw, the wide grin with straight, white teeth – and wondered what in the world Kakashi was hiding it for. But he knew why. He'd asked a long time ago. When they had been twelve years old, he'd asked.

_Why do you wear a mask?_ he'd asked, pointing. No one around them wore masks, after all. It was only on secret missions when people wore masks of any kind. For official missions, they could show their faces no problem.

Kakashi had given him a direct stare, no hint of humor lying in those steely blue eyes. _Because I feel like it._

Then Kakashi had turned away, leaving Gai to feel extremely awkward.

And now Kakashi was grinning at him, looking like an ecstatic teenager. Gai had seen glimpses of Kakashi's narrow jaw, his delicate facial features only hinted at underneath the mask. Gai had never seen this. Kakashi was beautiful.

Gai found himself stroking Kakashi's warm, smooth cheek, tracing Kakashi's jawline, touching the oft-hidden chin. It was a small chin.

Kakashi let out a small noise in the back of his throat and closed his eyes, leaning into the touch. His reaction was rather like a cat's being petted.

Gai realized Kakashi didn't have enough touch in his life, enough intimacy to satisfy the human needs for affection and comfort. He felt a deep, possessive need to nurture. He vowed to give Kakashi as much time, attention, and love as Kakashi needed.

He cupped Kakashi's chin, his heart beating palpably in his chest, and leaned in, heeding his sudden urge. His mouth quested for Kakashi's, not knowing that he would find. He'd never kissed anyone before in his life.

Kakashi looked at him with half-closed eyes, tilted his head upward to meet Gai's mouth with his own.

Their lips touched.

It was nothing like Gai had felt before, and it wasn't like he could have imagined it would feel. Kakashi's lips moving against his own, myriad little muscles coordinating under the skin, massaging. Warmth. Softness. And then there was the show-stopping feeling of the world narrowing to this sensation, this new thing. A sensation shot through Gai's veins.

Kakashi wrapped his arms around Gai's neck and molded their bodies together, still kissing.

Gai closed his eyes and let Kakashi take it from here.

After a world-shifting eternity packed into tiny moments, Kakashi hung limply against him. Gai cradled him.

Kakashi smiled up at him, looking as dazed as Gai felt. "Do you have any idea how many times I touched myself, thinking about this moment?" he whispered.

Flustered heat crashed through Gai's body. "Ah…no."

Kakashi laughed. "I didn't think so."

And everything was the same. Even after groundbreaking confessions, declarations of love, and their first kiss, something, somehow, was still the same.

Gai laughed after a split second shock.

Kakashi stroked his cheek, looking at him fondly. "My oblivious Gai."

Gai grinned, caught between embarrassment at Kakashi pointing out a trait people often made fun of in him, and relief that Kakashi somehow seemed to think that this was an adorable quirk. "I catch on to the important things."

Kakashi pressed a light kiss to his lips and said softly, "Yes, you do."

That kiss contained a whole world Gai hadn't known was there.


	3. Chapter 2: The Reunion

**Chapter 2**

* * *

The timing of going out with Kakashi was perfect. In two weeks, he would be meeting his old friends for a reunion. In theory, they would all be there; the major and minor players in his life before he became as close to Kakashi as he did in their twenties.

And even though Gai did not want to rub his sudden blinding success in their faces, he did want them to meet Kakashi and accept Kakashi's new role in his life.

He discussed it with Kakashi over lunch two days after their big breakthrough as a couple.

"I've met them before," Kakashi pointed out.

"I know." Gai squirmed. "But that was as my friend – my rival! This is different. I want them to see who you really are."

And Kakashi laid a calming hand on his arm. "I'll go." The small, soft smile he'd begun giving Gai when Gai confessed his feelings emerged again, making Gai's anxieties melt away.

The day of the reunion came, and Kakashi and Gai headed out for the reunion lunch. It took place at a barbeque joint that Gai and his friends had settled on years ago. Gai assured Kakashi it was a come-as-you-are kind of gathering, so they both wore their ordinary work clothes.

"Besides," Kakashi had teased, "I don't know if anyone would recognize you if you weren't wearing skintight green clothing."

Gai's response that his friends knew what he looked like and had much better eyesight than that missed the point that he was being teased, and in truth, a tiny part of him actually knew that and just enjoyed the banter he and Kakashi fell into with each other.

When they arrived at the barbeque joint, Gai saw his friend Kuriga already sitting at a table, awaiting everyone's arrival. He stood out with his bald head, short nose, and baseball jacket. Underneath the unzipped jacket was a white shirt with a blue logo. Kuriga's habitual baseball cap, white and red, rested on the table.

Gai marched up to his old friend proudly, his arm around Kakashi.

"I am not wonderful and virtuous!" Gai announced.

Kuriga stared at him; that kind of stare he received when someone had fundamentally failed to comprehend him. "Uh…"

Gai broke out into a beaming smile. "I am gay!"

Kuriga's jaw dropped with a sound of disbelief. "Are you serious?"

Gai tightened his arm around Kakashi and stood proudly, his head held high and his chest puffed out. "Indeed! I have found the love of my life."

Kuriga fell out of his chair and stumbled. He recovered his balance and then jabbed an accusing finger at Gai. "You're not gay!" he yelled, his face flushing.

Kakashi chuckled and leaned against Gai, smiling. "Maa, maa, calm down."

Kuriga's chakra flared, flaming blue, and he turned his fury on Kakashi. "This is your fault! You did this! What did you do to him? You pervert!"

Gai took in Kuriga's reddened face with wide eyes, blinking and stunned. Then he pulled Kakashi behind him protectively. "Kakashi didn't do anything. Please, Kuriga. Don't be angry with him."

Faced with his childhood friend, inches away from a battle, Kuriga deflated. He sighed, hanging his head.

Gai relaxed. Mostly. He looked at Kakashi uncertainly.

Kakashi rubbed his back, looking at Gai with concern.

Gai's shoulders slumped.

Kuriga raised his head and looked at Gai, dropping into an incredulous stance, one hand propped on his hip. "Really, Gai. You think you're gay?"

Gai felt prickled. He clenched his jaw stubbornly and allowed Kakashi back out to his side. "Yes, I do, Kuriga. I'm asking you to respect that. As my friend."

Kuriga dropped back into his chair with a sigh and looked up at Gai with a sulking expression. "You big dummy."

Gai was aghast at this. "What's so dumb about this?"

Kuriga sighed. He propped his chin in his hand and ordered a beer from a passing waitress. Then he turned his attention back to Gai. "You're not gay, that's what."

Gai's arm tightened around Kakashi again. Somehow, he felt threatened that Kuriga could actually take Kakashi away from him. He knew that would be impossible…and yet he was scared. "I am, too. Don't you think I know myself well enough that –"

"You don't know yourself well enough," Kuriga pointed out. "This is a pretty sudden decision, coming to the decision that you're gay. That alone says you're not secure in who you are. Gai, don't kid yourself. This isn't something you can realize overnight."

"Yes, it is," Gai said, hurt. "I did realize it overnight. And everything's better now. Why can't you be happy for me?"

Kuriga sighed. "Because you're making a mistake."

"Oi," Kakashi said, his voice calm and yet firm. "Gai is the judge of Gai's sexuality. That is not something another can dictate to him. You can't tell a man his identity, nor did Gai ask for any advice on his identity."

Gai's gaze flicked to Kakashi. He studied Kakashi's face, wavering inside. Then he grudgingly looked to Kuriga. "Let's sit down and wait for the others. We'll have a nice time." His tone was not as cheerful as he would have liked. In fact, there was a hardness to it just underneath the surface. He didn't often give orders, and he didn't like giving orders to his friends. But he had always been the unofficial leader, and though he usually ducked that responsibility...Kakashi motivated him to take charge for once.

Kuriga studied the grain of the table. "Yeah."

Gai wished Kuriga would respond to Kakashi, but he knew realistically that Kuriga would drop the subject altogether.

He looked to Kakashi again. "Shall we?" The unspoken question: Do you want to just leave? _I'm sorry how things turned out_.

"Certainly." Kakashi dropped into a chair with a practiced air of ease, the definition of laidback, although in truth he was on guard for verbal attacks.

Gai pulled out the chair next to Kakashi's and sat down, trying to swallow his nervousness. These were his friends. He shouldn't be scared of them. Certainly not. Not even nervous. He should be overjoyed to see them again. _And I was,_ the thought rebelliously popped up. _Until Kuriga opened his big mouth and -_ Gai couldn't even allow himself to think it. He didn't dwell on people's flaws.

Gai settled his arm around Kakashi and vowed to stay, no matter how choppy the waters got. This was his reunion, too. He was entitled to it.

He forced a smile. Though to most people, it looked as innocent and cheerful as always. "So how's your wife? Where is she?"

Kuriga looked up from the table and relaxed at the sight of Gai's smile. "Oh, she's running late. The kids, you know."

"Ah...how is that?" Gai had no idea what one did with biological children. That kind of responsibility was frightening to him.

Kuriga scratched his head and looked away, an affectionately wry smile emerging. "Oh, you know. Kids are kids."

"Will Tomoya-san be here?" Gai asked.

Kuriga's gaze jerked back to him. "Oh, yeah, she'll be here. She knows how important this is to me. She likes the guys, too. She's really warmed up to them over the years."

Tomoya, an elite kunoichi, had been an ANBU captain before marrying Kuriga, and still was part-time. She was as sharp as razor blades around most people. Initially, she'd cut the whole group to ribbons. Gai had sympathized; sort of. Tomoya reminded him of who people thought Kakashi was.

Gai caught himself drumming his fingers on the table and stopped, guiltily withdrawing his hand. He shouldn't give himself away with such an obvious nervous habit.

Kakashi watched Gai's nervousness with some concern. He knew how badly people could take this kind of news, so he was sympathetic. He hoped for Gai's sake that Kuriga was the only one who would object.

Being introverted and around an unknown man, he chose to remain quiet.

Kuriga soon launched into a rambling story about what his five year old son had done the other day, thus leavening the mood until the next two people arrived. They arrived side by side, though they weren't particularly together. In fact, Gai noticed for the first time that all his friends seemed sort of separate from each other. Aside from fighting together on the battlefield from time to time, no one had much in common with anyone else.

Yoshida, tall and slim as ever, had grown out his hair again. His glossy black hair was tied back in a ponytail. He wore a green sleeveless martial arts shirt with orange gi pants, his classic training clothes. In addition...

Gai stood and pointed. "Ah! Your face! It's -"

Yoshida laughed. "I know. Right?" He touched the new scar on his cheek self-consciously.

"Hey, Yoshida!" Kuriga grinned at him without getting up. "How's things?"

Yoshida dropped into a chair beside Kuriga. "Things're going. It's alright."

"What did you do?" Kuriga asked with a smirk. "Cut yourself shaving?"

Yoshida laughed, though it had that edge of so-help-me-I'll-kill-him Gai was so familiar with. "No, no, it happened in an accident on the battlefield. My mask slipped - someone cut the strap - and then I was facing this missing nin bare-faced, right?"

Yoshida gestured. "So I'm trying to put my mask on, trying to kill this guy at the same time, and wouldn't you know it, my partner's asleep! Snoring away."

Gai withheld comment.

Instead, he turned to Kakashi and smiled. "This is Yoshida." He looked back to where his other friend had been standing. "And this is-" He stopped when he realized his other friend had disappeared. "Huh? Where did he go?"

"Usui?" Yoshida said casually.

"Yeah."

Yoshida shrugged. "I dunno. He does that."

Gai rubbed the back of his head and smiled at Kakashi apologetically. "He does do that..."

Usui was another ANBU friend. In his case, it showed.

Kakashi gave Gai a sheepish grin. He hadn't caught Usui's disappearing act. "I see . . ."

Gai slowly sat back down. "He'll come back. He probably just..." Actually, Gai had no idea. He never had any idea.

Kakashi was filled with the 'all these people have a long history and I'm the odd one out' feeling, although he had agreed to this willingly. "That's all right. I'll see him when he returns."

Gai smiled at Kakashi awkwardly. He saw the look in Kakashi's eye and was reminded that his loved one was the type of man who was happiest reading porn in an abandoned training field on a sunny day. Internally, he winced at the fact that he'd dragged Kakashi out of his comfort zone.

Kakashi ordered a mint julep from a passing waitress and began slowly nursing it as soon as she returned with it.

Given it was a BBQ joint, the cocktail selection was very small.

Gai, marginally relieved by that move, wondered if he shouldn't drink himself...except for him, that always turned out poorly for some reason.

Yoshida finally registered the difference in the group at the table compared to previous reunions. His gaze slid to the silver-haired man with the mint julep. "Hey...You're Sharingan Kakashi, aren't you?"

Gai grinned his biggest boyish grin. "Gomen...Yoshida, this is my eternal rival, Kakashi. Except...we're not so much rivals anymore, we're more like..."

Kuriga raised an eyebrow, waiting for it.

Gai flushed hotly.

Kakashi sipped his julep nonchalantly.

Usui chose this moment to come out of the bathroom, visible across the restaurant from where Gai sat. He wore his usual billowing white cape and Suna-style turban. Trussed up with extra tasuki was a man Usui dragged along beside him. He deposited the man at the bar with a few muttered words. The nearest waitress let out a shriek.

Nonchalantly, Usui turned away, leaving the tied-up man on the floor, and walked over to his friends. "I found a suspect in the bathroom."

Gai laughed. "No..." He studied Usui's solemn expression. "Really?"

Usui nodded. "He's on the most wanted list."

"In our barbeque joint?" Kuriga complained. "These missing nin have no propriety."

Usui sat down, not even cracking a smile.

Gai laughed for him. He usually did.

He turned to Kakashi and gestured. "This is Usui."

Kakashi took this in with dry humor. "Yo," he said to the man.

Usui looked at Kakashi with a moment of puzzled interest, then inclined his head. "...Yo." Comprehension dawned. "You're Gai's rival, aren't you? The one that keeps him on his toes? Gai talks about you." He gave Gai the slightest hint of a smile. "Actually, you're all he does talk about."

Gai found himself blushing again. "Well...It's a boring life aside from Kakashi..."

Kuriga snorted. "Kakashi-sama certainly makes things interesting, that's for sure."

Gai was filled with an unfamiliar feeling. The feeling like...he really wanted to grab Kuriga by the neck and squeeze.

Kakashi leveled an expressionless gaze at Kuriga. "I do my best," he said, deadpan.

"As do we all," Usui said solemnly.

Kuriga rolled his eyes and cupped his chin in his hands. "Killjoy," he muttered.

Yoshida laughed, interrupting the would-be argument. "So how are things going, Usui?"

"Work is work," Usui said.

Gai cleared his throat. "Kakashi is..." He found himself looking at Yoshida and Usui nervously.

"Yes?" Usui asked.

"Yeah," Yoshida said, sitting up straighter. "You were just about to tell us something when Usui came out of the bathroom."

Gai felt an unaccustomed wave of misery. He ran his arm around Kakashi's waist and squeezed. "Kakashi's my boyfriend," he mumbled, unable to look at anybody. His chest was hot in an unpleasantly fluttery kind of way.

Kakashi lifted one hand and waved at them cheerfully. "That's me!"

Gai grinned in spite of himself, some of the burning in his chest disappearing.

Yoshida's eyes widened for a split second. Then he was laughing like a man driven.

Gai knew that laugh. That was the Yoshida laugh of utter hysterics.

He resisted the urge to smack his forehead.

Yoshida realized his reaction did not bode well and attempted to stop laughing. He brushed his hair out of his eyes. "I mean...Gai...You...Really? I..." His voice cracked. "That's wonderful!"

Gai really wanted to beat his head against the table, but he'd crack it in two if he did that. The poor table wouldn't be able to take his hard head.

"I realized it two weeks ago," Gai said. His voice came out shakily.

"That's wonderful!" Yoshida exclaimed. "I mean...fantastic!" He'd broken a sweat. A panic sweat. "You just - you knew - so you -" He declined into laughter again, which trailed off after a moment. "I'm happy for you, Gai. You've never been completely happy before."

Gai flinched, and then rubbed the back of his head. He prided himself on always appearing completely happy.

"Shut up," Usui suggested in a monotone.

_We cracked him,_ Kakashi thought.

He mentally shrugged.

Yoshida looked at Usui, startled, and then at the table.

"Yeah..." Kuriga muttered.

"Your choice is not unusual," Usui said, staring Gai down.

Usui' stares were uncomfortable, but Gai had to admit he was relieved that his most level-headed friend actually approved. Or respected him.

Kakashi took in this response with a nod. Usui seemed reasonable, if dry.

"Congratulations," Usui added as an afterthought. "To both of you."

Gai gave Usui a small but genuine smile. "Thanks."

"Thanks," Kakashi said as well. He sipped his julep again. It was more bitter than he'd expected, but it was good enough.

He leaned into Gai a bit, relaxing further. Or appearing to, at any rate. Internally he was still very alert and on guard for Gai's sake.

Gai squeezed Kakashi gratefully. He had to admit he could relax knowing at least Usui was on his side. As much as he hated to value one friend's opinion over another, Usui was someone he respected to a near-painful degree.

Kuriga reacted to the next arrival first. "Hey, Bara!"

Yoshida looked up with wide eyes.

A blue-haired vixen bounced in, wearing a tank top and cargo shorts, a pair of sneakers, and fingerless gloves. "Hey, boys!" She plopped into the chair between Kuriga and Yoshida, reclining and folding her arms behind her head. "What'd I miss? Sorry I'm late." She winked at Yoshida.

Yoshida immediately blushed crimson.

"Well?" Bara prompted at the moment of dead silence.

Yoshida glanced at Gai with a nervous chuckle. "Um...Bara...Gai has something really interesting to tell you. I bet..." Another chuckle emerged. "It'll be a surprise!" He beamed, which looked more like a cringe.

Bara blinked. "What's going on?" She looked at Gai with wide eyes.

Gai reflected in an instant on his relationship with Bara. She had literally been his first female friend, and his first indication that women did absolutely nothing to him. She'd been bold, cranky, and sometimes helpful...but always blunt. She tended to expect the same from others.

Gai blasted a blinding grin at her and squeezed Kakashi in a one-armed hug. "Kakashi's my boyfriend and we're in love and that means I've been gay all along!"

She fell over. Literally, she toppled her chair, overbalancing.

Gai winced.

Then she picked herself back up with a self-deprecating laugh and plopped back down. "Gai, that's wonderful. I hope you don't beat yourself up now."

That was not the response Gai had been expecting. He looked at her blankly.

Kakashi merely took another sip of his drink, staying relaxed and following Gai's cues.

Bara looked confused by Gai's confusion. "You know...for not really..." She looked around the table for support. No takers. She looked back to Gai. "Um, Gai, you did notice how you...well, you, you didn't really react to...well, that is..." She gave him a nervous smile and punched Yoshida on the arm. "Oh, come on, you guys! If Gai didn't fall in love with me like everyone else did, it means he's gay!"

"Vain, Bara," Kuriga muttered. "Really vain. Classy."

Yoshida burst into laughter, but it was less hysterical this time. "You know, you're right?" He rubbed the back of his head.

Bara grinned triumphantly. "Of course I'm right."

Usui stayed dead silent.

"It could have meant lots of things," Gai protested feebly.

Kakashi suppressed a snort.

Bara crossed her arms over her chest. "Like what, Gai? You were a teenage boy. I was a busty, nubile teenage girl with piles of bright blue hair. You would have been putty in my hands."

Kuriga pouted, clearly outraged at having his past behavior mocked and used as a model.

She wagged her finger. "The fact that you weren't proves that you're gay. I knew that."

Kuriga slid her a look.

"You could have just not been my type," Gai said with all the dignity he could muster.

That earned him the eye twitch and subtle smile-frown he was so fond of seeing for some reason.

Gai grinned.

Kakashi smiled to himself as well.

He was also inclined to agree with Gai's assessment. He was bi, and Bara was not his type. Nor would she have been when he was a teenager.

"Well, you'll never know, will you?" Bara said after that skipped beat. "I mean, you're gay." She reclined in her hair luxuriously.

"I may be gay, but I know my type," Gai retorted. "And you're not it."

Kuriga snorted.

Gai glanced at Kakashi and then back to Bara, his grin widening. "_My_ type isn't so arrogant and bossy."

Bara almost fell over in her chair again. "Why, you -"

Gai burst out laughing.

That set off a group chain reaction that Bara had to bear with good humor or pull up the strength to commit mass-murder. She smoothed down her hair with a wry smile.

"I'd never go out with a girl like you," Gai said, crossing his arms over his chest in a fair imitation of his teenaged self.

Bara blushed, recalling that particular conversation.

_ Ah, now this is what reunions are for,_ Gai thought with satisfaction.

"Well, you won't go out with any girl, anyway," Bara said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "So I have no reason to feel bad."

"True," Gai conceded.

Then Bara had one of those gleaming moments of actual friendship. She turned to Kakashi and gave him a serious look. "You better treat him good, you know."

Kakashi gave her a small smile. "I will. He's-" He wondered how to say what he thought without sounding sappy. "He's The One." His eyes twinkled. "And one of a kind." In the best way.

Gai blushed and rubbed the back of his head, shrugging his shoulders.

Bara's look softened. "Good. Go make each other happy." She gave Kuriga and Yoshida a Look, as though she suspected them both of foul play. "And don't pay attention to what these _jerks_ have to say. You're a good guy. You deserve to be happy."

"Hey, I wished him well!" Yoshida protested.

Kuriga hung his head. "It's just a shock, you know?"

Bara reached over and smacked Kuriga across the head. "I knew it," she accused.

Kuriga sulked.

"Gai went to your wedding, and he didn't even like Tomoya," Bara declared. "Then you begrudge him someone who makes him happy? Honestly, Kuriga! You've got the brain of a bowling ball!"

Gai looked shifty.

"No one liked Tomoya," Yoshida pointed out. "She's scary."

"But she's Kuriga's someone!" Bara retorted. "And we all have to be respectful. You can't go around badmouthing someone's Significant Other. Get your acts together."

Gai wasn't sure what to do when Bara was in Preaching Mode.

Kakashi listened to this speech silently, still sipping his julep in slow motion.

Yoshida broke into the sermon. "Hey, remember when you were trying to find us on the battlefield, and you got into trouble, and you would have been a goner because this missing nin guy snuck up right behind you? And then you turned around in time to see Tomoya snapping his neck?" He chuckled. "You screamed."

Bara turned bright red.

"I heard you all the way across the battlefield," Yoshida teased. "I thought you'd been murdered. Who knew you'd shriek so loud about getting saved?"

"I was just startled," Bara said defensively. "I'm grateful to Tomoya-chan."

"You asked not to be alone with her on the trip back," Yoshida said.

"That was...because..." Bara gave up. "Oh, you guys!"

Gai grinned reluctantly.

Kakashi chuckled faintly.

"Okay, okay, so she scared me," Bara complained.

"Ha," Yoshida said.

Kuriga blushed. "She scared me, too." He looked away. "And I liked it."

If Bara had been drinking, she would have done a spit-take.

The corner of Kakashi's mouth bent downward and twitched; he tried not to laugh out loud.

Gai stared at Kuriga, slack-jawed. Then he grinned brightly. "To each their own!" If he were ever afraid of Kakashi, he wouldn't be able to trust Kakashi with his life. Or love.

Kakashi was thinking much the same, although he didn't comment.

Said blonde shortly entered, sauntering in wearing typical ANBU gear, minus the mask: a black t-shirt and pants with white armor over it. She kissed Kuriga on the top of the head and stared at Yoshida until he moved. It didn't take long. Then she sat down beside her husband and wound her arm through his.

Yoshida relocated to the other side of Usui.

"Hello, gang," Tomoya drawled. She glanced at Kakashi and raised an eyebrow. "Plus one. The Copy Ninja, if I don't miss my guess. What's the great Kakashi doing here - without his mask on, no less? Isn't that some kind of breach of personal code?"

Gai smiled nervously.

Tomoya took in Gai's expression and touched her chin, instantly thoughtful. That calculating look had once frozen Gai stiff on the battlefield - before he'd realized she was an ANBU agent on his side. They'd met when his mission accidentally crossed with an ANBU mission going on at the same time.

"Hardly," Kakashi said. "Although admittedly I don't do it often. However, I am among Gai's friends here."

Tomoya smiled. "Yes." She gave Gai a friendly glance. Then, at her husband: "Has anyone ordered yet? I'm starving."

Kuriga jumped, startled. "Ah, no...We were waiting for you to get here, I guess."

"Hardly necessary," Tomoya said dryly.

Kuriga blushed. "Well...other stuff has been going on, too. It's not like we just sat here like lumps."

"Hn. Good." She kissed the side of his head.

"Right," Gai said. "What do we want?"

Minor discussion on food took place.

They placed their orders and then waited.

"So you're pretty close to Gai, aren't you?" Tomoya asked Kakashi, appearing at ease with Kakashi's presence.

"He's my boyfriend," Kakashi said blandly, as though they were discussing the weather.

"Ah." Tomoya smiled and slanted a glance at her husband. "That explains why Kuriga was so jealous."

Kuriga spluttered. "I wasn't - not...jealous..."

She smiled and stirred her strawberry lemonade with her straw. "He told me how often you were training together, and he seemed to think 'Sharingan' Kakashi was making unfair attempts to..." Her smile widened. "Well, do something anyway," she teased her husband.

Kuriga blushed bright red.

"It explains a lot that you're actually going out with each other," Tomoya said.

"Ah," Kakashi said noncommittally.

"I know," Tomoya said.

Gai didn't know what she was referring to.

Kakashi nodded and merely sipped his julep again. He was almost to the bottom now.

Tomoya pinched Kuriga's ear, playful but with an edge. "He probably gave you a hard time thinking it would never get back to me." She tweaked his ear gently.

Kuriga still winced. "Tomoya..."

"Hmm? What is it?"

Kuriga said miserably, "Gomen nasai."

She released his ear. "That's better."

_Whupped,_ Kakashi decided. He didn't respond to the apology given it was forced out.

"He picks on my brother, too," Tomoya said casually. "I don't know what his problem is with gay men. It makes sense that if he suspected he would resent you."

Kuriga stared at the table.

Gai had it in him to feel a little bit bad for his friend.

A little.

"Oh, you know," Kakashi said airly. "I think the reigning theory is security in one's own sexuality." He knew he was being vicious, but the jab about Gai being secure in his identity had irked him.

Kuriga forced a grin and rubbed the back of his neck. "You may be right."

Tomoya raised an eyebrow. "Interesting theory." She gave Kakashi an amused smile.

Gai thought for a moment that would be the end, but then she added in her own airy tone, "I guess I like my men insecure. My mother always told me that was a failing. But then, to each their own."

Gai wondered if it was entirely appropriate for Tomoya to pick on Kuriga, given that they were...well...married, and stuff, but then, he didn't pick her. At one time, he'd even had a crush on Kuriga himself. Not that he'd known to interpret it that way.

Given that Kuriga was busy rubbing salt in Gai's wounds, Gai couldn't hang on to much pity for him.

"So, Tomoya, how are the kids?" Bara asked brightly.

"Oh, they're fine," Tomoya said. "They're being watched over by my mother right now."

Unexpectedly, she offered up, "It's obvious that Gai was fascinated by you, and he's an adult man. I don't think he needs any watching. You're an upstanding Leaf nin, and I have no reason to suspect you're any less than an upstanding person in other areas of your life. I couldn't be concerned less what you and Gai do."

Gai had the feeling that was also the Official Order for the Kuriga household. Or should he say, Tomoya household.

Kakashi got that distinct impression as well.

Gai smiled wryly. "Kuriga."

Kuriga's head shot up. He looked at Gai apprehensively. "Gai?"

Gai made himself say it. _Yes, it will hurt, but there's nothing worse than a false truce. In the long run, this is good for me. It's just another kind of training, that's all_. "You don't have to like me anymore if you don't want to."

Kuriga's jaw dropped.

Kakashi grew stiff.

Gai swallowed and forced himself to remember all of the good times they'd shared. He gave Kuriga a tiny smile. "You know, it's okay if we part ways now. We fought together a lot of times. When it really counted...we were always there for each other. You always pulled through in the end, and I couldn't have won the battles I did without you there, supporting me. Cheering me on." Literally. Kuriga could be very excitable in a battle situation. That hot feeling was back in Gai's chest. "You don't have to owe me any more stuff. I mean, if you ever did, that's long gone. You don't have to ever see me again."

Everyone at the table was dead silent, staring at Gai.

Kakashi understood Gai's tactic. He watched Kuriga silently, tense with apprehension.

Kuriga's expression was slack. There was a look in his eyes like...Gai didn't know what it was. He couldn't interpret that anymore. He couldn't look in Kuriga's eyes and assume he knew anything.

"Sometimes people change, or they're not who you thought they were, and it's okay not to like them anymore," Gai said.

Kuriga looked away, his eyes filling with tears. "Gai...It's not like that."

"Then what is it like?" Gai asked gently.

"You're just..." Kuriga glanced at him suddenly, eyes full of tears, accusing, angry. "You're not a bad person!"

Gai was speechless.

"Bad person?" Kakashi repeated quietly.

Kuriga folded in on himself, ashamed.

Gai didn't know what to say. He experienced a moment's panic, then looked to Kakashi.

"Gay people are bad people?" Kakashi questioned, quietly still.

No one at the table seemed able to speak.

Gai glanced at Usui and saw that instead of being speechless, however, Usui looked mildly interested. A sure sign he was actually hanging on every word. Usui was the master of being stoic.

"Well..." Kuriga shifted. "No."

Gai knew that tone of voice. Kuriga was in take-it-all-back mode.

"You don't have to," Gai said. "I'm not offended...I don't think Kashi is offended, either. We're just...confused." It was the clearest plea Gai could make.

Kuriga squirmed, and then stilled. He looked at Gai with an expression Gai remembered once from their heart-to-heart talks. Weary cynicism. "It's okay. If you're gay, I'll just have to..." He shrugged his shoulders irritably. "I'll just have to change my mind, that's all. Because you're not bad. You're not a bad person. And I don't want you to think..." His voice trailed off into a mumble. He cleared his throat and tried again. "I don't want you to think I think that."

He glared at Gai. "Cause I don't. You're the best person I know, Gai. You're always there for everybody. You're flawless. But you're - just -" A flush of frustration crept into his cheeks. "No one could ask for more."

"I'm not asking you to think I'm flawless," Gai said helplessly.

"But you're not bad!" Kuriga retorted.

It seemed to Kakashi that Kuriga was clearly stuck on something, but from his point of view, it was something Kuriga had to work out for himself.

Gai wrapped his arms around Kakashi and leaned on him. "I'm not bad," he whispered. "I don't feel like I'm bad. I love Kakashi." He looked at Kuriga pleadingly. "I don't want you to take him away from me."

Kuriga slumped, stunned. "Oh, God, Gai. I'm not gonna take him away from you. How would I do that anyway?"

Tears came to Gai's eyes. "By disapproving..." He wished it didn't sound the way it did, and that how it sounded wasn't exactly how he meant it.

Kuriga smacked his forehead. "What do I care? Go out with him!"

Gai tightened his arms around Kakashi. "You promise?"

"I promise," Kuriga declared, scowling. "Now stop crying."

"I never started," Gai said with shades of his usual lofty tone when he was trumping one of his friends.

Kakashi tentatively relaxed.

Gai clung to Kakashi anyway. "You promised," he warned.

"I promise." Kuriga threw up his hands. "I'm not gonna take Kakashi away from you."

Gai only had one retort. "You better not."

For him, that was an awful threat.

Everyone around the table knew that, too. Bara laughed nervously.

"I wouldn't let him anyway," Kakashi pointed out in a murmur.

Gai relaxed, smiling. Somehow, that was exactly what he needed to hear.

Bara twisted in her chair and pointed brightly. "Oh, look. Food's here."

"Oh, good," Gai said contentedly. He was more or less fulfilling what everyone wanted him to say. What he would say, if the situation were normal. And he wouldn't begrudge them that. "I'm starving."

And everyone laughed - Usui even managed a small chuckle - because for some reason when he said that it was always funny.

Gai would never quite understand that.

But as he relaxed against Kakashi, he did understand one thing: At least he hadn't messed up.

* * *

Author's Note: Ariel D wrote Kakashi for the bulk of this chapter, starting from when Kuriga accuses Gai of making a mistake. I needed her help.


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